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It is often said that you’re either scientifically minded or artistically minded. It can take a while to work ourselves out as we grow up. I, for example, was terrible at maths and whilst, during my pre-teens, I developed a healthy desire to learn more about the human biology, I was essentially and overall completely useless at science on the whole; I loved art and literature. So, once we work out which ‘mind’ we have, that’s it, right?

Well, no, actually, not really. If you’re all set with the understanding that you fall on the ‘artistic’ side of the spectrum, that can be comforting, in that it gives you a ‘path’ and a place to ‘fit in’ to – cue diarising Saturday visits to the Tate, buying of hair-dye and appropriate beaded jewellery to appear ‘arty’, and, of course, the obligatory writing out of soulful ballad lyrics while sitting cross-legged in DMs with purple laces and floaty floral skirts. But if, like me, you’re only OK at painting, while others are considered ‘naturals’, what do you do then?

Obviously working for what you want is a good move. American Palaeontologist Jack Horner was interested in palaeontology from childhood, but, as quoted by Liz Attebery in http://dyslexia.yale.edu/horner.html, the famous scientist described himself as having found school ‘extremely difficult because my progress in […] mathematics was excruciatingly slow.’ He could have given up. After all, to qualify as a palaeontologist nowadays you’re pretty much looking at obtaining your maths GCSE C or above, maths A-level, plus a relevant honours degree (see https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/planning/jobprofiles/Pages/palaeontologist.aspx). Horner is proof that you shouldn’t be put off!

Having said this, however, I still think it’s pretty dangerous to want to categorise ourselves too much from an early age. I mean, yes – it’s good to get a feel for what you like, and it’s great to feel encouraged in what you’re good at as you enter into adulthood, but if we decide that’s it, that’s ‘the sort of person’ we are, we’re closing off our options, pigeon-holing ourselves, and pressuring ourselves. We won’t be open to trying out different things in life, seeing if we’re good at those too, or if we’d like to be, and it forces us to be very, very good at just one thing – that’s a lot of pressure.

As a ‘fully-fledged’ adult, I’ve come back to ‘arty’, after having abandoned it when overcome by the feeling I just didn’t cut it (due to that pigeon-holing pressure thing). Now I like to write. And, so, that’s great. But what’s also great is to have figured out that we don’t exist in separate realms, one for those scientifically inclined, the other artistically so. I’m pretty good at other stuff too, but I love writing.

An example of ‘merging realms’, if you like; it is widely known that creative, artistic activity can go a long way to helping someone with a mental health issue. One organisation that brings focus to this is the charity Mind: http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-treatments/arts-therapies. People who engage in this form of therapy are not all naturally drawn to the arts, obviously, but it can still be possible for them to express themselves and their emotions through the arts at a particular time in their lives, because it works for them then. It can also be a way to repair a lost feeling of power – to regain control of yourself, in that you’re able to express yourself– at a difficult time mentally.

Whether we are good at maths or good at languages or whatever it may be is neither here nor there. Whether you spend a few years writing a novel, tutoring a pupil in whatever subject, aiding NASA in their research, or creating some children – you’re an artist. Me, I just spent a few years writing a novel. Meanwhile, a friend of mine was busy writing her own story by creating her children – an analogy another friend of mine used, which I love.

The point is – we are all living our lives, painting our pictures, in our own ways, in our own time. We are all artists; we are all creating something, every day.

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Samantha holds a degree in English Literature with Film Studies from Kingston University, London, which she gained age 30. Since then she has been writing seriously, having undertaken a fiction writing module via Open University and completed her first young adult fantasy novel, The Sister Worlds, which is available for free download now on ITunes here:

That was really interesting. I was lousy at science, far better at the arts so no wonder I ended up in the writing industry. And yes, writing is so therapeutic… I’ve killed off my next-door neighbour a few times. Great to have you back. Thank you, Samantha.

Samantha began telling stories from a young age, hiding herself away for an hour or so here and there while she spun her tales, living by her imagination (as much as possible within the bounds of reality!) whilst growing up. She began writing the odd poem during her teens, but it wasn’t until her late twenties whilst at university that she understood her true love for writing.

Her tastes are eclectic, not only in her own writing, but in the form and genre of the writing of others. She is inspired by Virginia Woolf and Christina Rossetti, amongst many others, including the work of Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen, Philip K. Dick, Ellen Miller, and Zeruya Shalev. She has most recently been drawn to the work of Abraham Verghese and Patrick Gayle. Her love for the magical and fantastical in fiction is a constant; she has particularly enjoyed the work of Veronica Roth in this respect, and once studied Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep in relation to Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner. Samantha also has a strong interest in human relationships and mental health, and a love for the innocence of young children and the life and hope they instil in tired-out grown-ups.

With experience as an editor, proofreader and researcher, Samantha is well accomplished and finds this useful when writing and, of course, editing her own work.

Her previous proofreading and editing experience comprises a website research and editing project for the charity Re-Cycle, the proofreading and editing of a website story – also for Re-Cycle – together with the editing of their August and September newsletters; also a novel, short story, and flash fiction piece for author Elizabeth Los, a novel excerpt for author & translator Jasmine Heydari, and the website area and biographies for global broadcast production company Clean Cut Media Ltd. She has also read and edited various documentation including minutes, website material, presentations and more, as part of her administrative background.

Samantha has had three articles published to date and some short fiction. She previously ran a creative writing group on a voluntary basis for Mungos charity.

She is currently writing her second novel and working on a number of exciting new projects, whilst working as Sub-Editor for UnderTheFable magazine and embarking on freelance copywriting. She regularly writes fiction pieces both for her own website, and to be entered into various competitions.

You can subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app via Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com. Alternatively, you can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything (see right-hand vertical menu).

If you would like to send me a book review of another author’s books or like your book reviewed (short stories, contemporary crime / women’s novels or writing guides), see book-reviews for the guidelines. Other options listed on opportunities-on-this-blog. And I post writing exercises every weekday on four online writing groups.

On my blog’s Competitions page is a list of some writing competitions by closing date (month by month) then by regularity, followed by competition websites.

If you would like your competition listed please email me the details as per the format below (i.e. one line per competition) ensuring that it starts with the type of competition it is and highlighting the month it closes. Thank you.

As we’re over halfway through April already, below are the May deadlines (by format). If you find any information out of date, please do let me know (or leave a comment below). Thank you.

Flash Fiction: Each month the Scottish Book Trust provides a prompt to get you started, but where the <50-word story goes from there is entirely up to you. Their favourite story will be published on their page and the writer will receive a lovely Novel Poster from The Literary Gift Company. You can submit your story in the body of an email or as an attachment and remember to include your full name with your entry. They also welcome entries in Gaelic or Scots.

Flash Fiction: Tethered by Letters’ Spring 2015 Flash Fiction Contest is “currently accepting flash fiction submissions of 55, 250, or 500 words in length. The flash fiction contest winner will be published in F(r)iction. Three finalists will be considered for subsequent quarterly journal publications or a TBL online monthly feature. Each finalist will also receive free professional edits on their submission. International submissions welcome.” Deadline: May 31, 2015. Prize: $150 and publication in the quarterly journal. Entry Fee: $7 per entry OR $15 for three entries. URL: http://tetheredbyletters.com/submissions/contest-submission. Contact Info: Joe Reinis, jreinis@tetheredbyletters.com.

Flash Fiction / Short Stories: The Writer’s Notebook is a monthly, free to enter short story competition. Each month has a set theme, and each writer can submit up to 2 stories per month. A new theme opens on the 1st of each month, and the deadline for entries is the 28th of each month. Future themes are available to view on our webpage.The prize is publication of the short story in our Anthology at the end of the year, and an equal share of sale profits of said Anthology. It is an experimental idea for a free to enter writing competition, relying on social media to drive sales of the Anthology and increase the prize. Stories should be 400-1500 words. A short list of three stories will be published on our blog for our readers to vote for a winner. For more information please see http://thewritersnotebookgroup.blogspot.com.

Mixed: Submission to the non-fiction and fiction Shirley You Jest Book Awards opens 20th May 2015 (closes 22nd July 2015). I’m one of the sponsors!

Mixed: Winchester Writers’ Conference has opened their mixed writing competitions (deadline 24th May). Details in their competitions brochure. £7 per entry if attending, £9 if not.

Mixed: The International Yeovil Literary Prize has a closing date of 31st May and there are three categories: THE NOVEL – Please send the synopsis with opening chapters (up to 15,000 words in total) : Prizes: 1st = £1,000; 2nd = £250; 3rd = £100. Fee £11. THE SHORT STORY – Up to a maximum of 2,000 words. Prizes: 1st = £500; 2nd = £200; 3rd = £100. Fee £6. POETRY – A poem with a maximum of 40 lines. Prizes: 1st = £500; 2nd = £200; 3rd = £100. Fee £6, two for £9, three for £11. The Yeovil Literary Prize can be entered online or by post. The judges are all professional writers and publishers. For details see the website (yeovilprize.co.uk) or write to: Yeovil Literary Prize, The Octagon Theatre, Hendford, Yeovil, BA20 1UX.

Mixed (novels & short story collections): iWriteReadRate and Cornerstones Literary Consultancy (voteformyebook.com) are offering a monthly social competition to members of the community – see ‘Monthly’ towards the end of this page.

Novels: Novel Rocket runs an annual Launch Pad Contest: Boosting You Out of the Slush Pile. Entries will be accepted in all genres beginning mid-January. The deadline for submission is different for genre categories according to the following schedule. In each case, entries must be received by 11:59 PM EST on the 10th day of the month (April to September) listed on novelrocket.com/p/launch-pad-contest.html. They also post a new writing-related article seven days a week, from author interviews to marketing discussions to articles about the craft of writing. NB. The entry fee is $45 so give this very careful consideration.

Novels: Words With JAM is running a ‘First Page Competition’ where you can enter the first page of a finished novel, work in progress or page specifically written for the competition. Closing date 31st May. Prizes £500 / £100 / £50 with fee of £6 first entry, £4 per entry thereafter. See wordswithjam.co.uk/#/first-page-competition-2013/4573741026 for details.

Playwriting: RealDeal Theatre is looking for 10-15 minute scripts for its new event, Popcorn Saturday!, short plays inspired by the movies, to be held late June to be held at Westminster Reference Library, off London’s Leicester Square. Entries to scripts@realdealtheatre.org.uk. A link straight to the entry details realdealtheatre.webs.com/scripts.htm.

Playwriting: Pint-sized Plays. Scripts should be capable of being staged in a pub with a running time of 5-10 mins, closing date 31 May. See pintsizedplays.org.uk.

Poetry: Email received from The Pen Company.co.uk: With the start of Spring fast approaching, The Pen Company have launched a competition to win a Graf von Faber-Castell Guilloche Fountain Pen in the colour of your choice. All the details to enter the competition can be found here: thepencompany.com/blog/competitions/spring-poetry-competition (deadline 1st May). We look forward to seeing your entry. Take care, Anna, Marketing Assistant, The Pen Company.

Poetry: The second ‘Poems Please Me’ Poetry Competition has a deadline of 31st May. Entry is by subscription to the site and the example given is a ‘single’ at £12 which entitles you to three entries to the competition. See poemsplease.me/?page_id=118 for more details.

Poetry: The fourth Battered Moons Poetry Competition is now open to all UK residents aged 18 or over and accepts poems on any topic and style of up to 40 lines. Main judge Alice Oswald and Cristina Newton will read all the poems. The 3 winners and 4 commended poets will be invited to read their poems at the Swindon Festival of Poetry early October. Winning and commended poems will appear in the Battered Moons pamphlet and website. First prize, £300; second, £150; third, £75. Entry fee: £3 each poem or £10 for 4. Closing date for entries is 31st May. Online and postal entries accepted. For further information and to enter, visit batteredmoons.com. Queries to Cristina Newton on cristina.ne.newton@gmail.com. Supported by Swindon Artswords, the Swindon Festival of Poetry, and Arts Council England.

Poetry: David Burland International Poetry Prize – in either French or English – closing date 31st May, 1st prize £200 + website publication. See davidburlandpoetryprize.com.

Poetry: The Frogmore Poetry Prize has been annual since 1987. You can win 200 guineas and 2-year sub to The Frogmore Papers. Max 40 lines, closing date 31st May. See frogmorepress.co.uk.

Poetry: Tethered by Letters’ Spring 2015 Poetry Contest is “currently accepting poetry submissions of all genres and styles—from traditional form to free verse. Length requirements are no more than three pages per poem, single-spaced with double spacing between stanzas. The poetry contest winner will be published in F(r)iction. Three finalists will be considered for subsequent quarterly journal publications or a TBL online monthly poetry feature. Each finalist will also receive free professional edits on their submission. International submissions welcome.” Deadline: May 31, 2015. Prize: $150 and publication in the quarterly journal. Entry Fee: $7 per entry OR $15 for three entries. URL: http://tetheredbyletters.com/submissions/contest-submission. Contact Info: Joe Reinis, jreinis@tetheredbyletters.com.

Scriptwriting: The 10th Annual Screenwriting Challenge is a competition open to screenwriters around the world. There are 3 rounds of competition. In the 1st Round (June), writers are placed randomly in heats and are assigned a genre, subject, and character assignment (see examples of past assignments here). Writers have 8 days to write an original short screenplay no longer than 12 pages. The judges choose a top 5 in each heat to advance to the 2nd Round (July) where writers receive new assignments, only this time they have just 3 days to write an 8 page (maximum) short screenplay. Judges choose a top 25 from the 2nd Round to advance to the 3rd and final round of the competition where writers are challenged to write a 5 page (maximum) screenplay in just 24 hours (August). It’s easy to register. First, download and read the Official Rules and Participation Agreement. Once you have read, understood, and agree to the terms, you are ready to register by clicking here. The entry fee is USD $39* until the Early Entry Deadline of mid-May and USD $49* until the Final Entry Deadlline of mid-June.

Short Stories: Tethered by Letters’ Spring 2015 Short Story Contest is “currently accepting short stories of any genre ranging from 1,000 to 7,500 words. The short story contest winner will be published in F(r)iction. Five finalists will be considered for subsequent journal publications or a TBL online monthly feature. Each finalist will also receive free professional edits on their submission. International submissions welcome.” Deadline: May 31, 2015. Prize: $500 and publication in the quarterly journal. Entry Fee: $15 per entry. URL: http://tetheredbyletters.com/submissions/contest-submission. Contact Info: Joe Reinis, jreinis@tetheredbyletters.com.

Short stories: The Writers’ Forum Short Story Competition is a monthly no-theme contest for stories between 1,000 and 3,000 words. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving too late (after the 15th) for one month go forward to the next. Prizes: £350, £150, £100 and publication in Writers’ Forum magazine (and possible anthology). Entry Fee: £3 per story for subscribers, £6 each non-subscribers. £5 extra for a critique (sae required if entering by post). Comp Page: http://writers-forum.com/storycomp.html.

Short stories: Curry Mallet History Festival Short Story Competition judge is novelist Amelia Carr, max 2500 words with the title The Reunion or The Journey or The Letter, 1st prize £100, closing date 17 May. See currymallet.org/short-story-competition.

Short stories: Hayley Sherman also runs a monthly short story competition for submissions on any subject up to 2,000 words. The winners are published on the website, promoted online and receive a £10 First Writer voucher. All entrants are also considered for publication in The New Short Story Annual at the end of the year. Deadline 25th of the month. Heather Marie Schuldt runs a similar contest, although 500-750 words max., but with the same deadline.

Short stories: Saga is running a ghost short story competition. Max 3,000 words. Deadline: 31st May.

If you would like to send me a book review of another author’s books or like your book reviewed (short stories, contemporary crime / women’s novels or writing guides), see book-reviews for the guidelines. Other options listed on opportunities-on-this-blog. And I post writing exercises every weekday on four online writing groups.

Writing full time is a viciously difficult profession. I very rarely see a happy writer because any form of writing is like tearing the flesh from your bones; especially if you have to do it every day. Being a full-time writer is difficult because you have to find the motivation to write over and over again until you start climbing the walls with frustration. I know because I have done it and I help authors on market with their services on a regular basis.

How do you get work every day? How do you turn your hobby into a profession? How do you even start paid-writing as a hobby in the first place? First, you need to create an online reputation, build it, cultivate it and maintain it. Here are a few of my best online-marketing tips to help you start and build your reputation.

Build your own website

This should be the first step in your writing endeavor. You need your own website that acts like an online portfolio. Do not get bogged down in details at first. Put yourself in the shoes of your employer. Would you want to read that the writer has been a writer for six years? Or, would you like to see references to every article he or she has ever written? The answer is the former. When you hire a mechanic, you do not ask how many cars he or she has ever fixed.

Put in more than one picture of yourself on your website. It shows that you are human and not a marketing ploy by a writing club. Show a professional one, one with your pet, and one stood beside an expensive car (it doesn’t have to be yours).

Writer, blogger, mom, wife and adventurer on life’s creative high seas. Self-confessed book-junkie, literary festival devotee and peruser of indie bookstores. Caroline A Connell is a former finance guru who has escaped death-by-bullet point to live her dream to write novels and publish them.

A lover of the written word, as a child Connell read her way through the local public library. In high school, she would irritate her Eng Lit teacher by reading ahead but still keep tabs on where the teacher was up to. {Does anyone remember those tedious lessons where the teacher just sat at the front and read? For an hour at a time? Talk about killing off a love of literature}.

After college, a life in finance and the law tempered her need to write but it remained an itch that could never be fully scratched. “The Secret Alchemist” is her first published novel and 2014 promises several more.

Connell lives on the gentle, green slopes of the Pennine Hills in the UK with her family and pet dog, and can be discovered at her website and across social media.

In the absence of any poetry for https://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/post-weekend-poetry, I’ve brought this evening post forward. Most of the posts on this blog are guest-related but this is my little corner where I say what I’ve been up to and this week I’ve had a very busy few days, and have a few coming up…

I’ve not done any more to my Camp NaNoWriMo novel – a not-as-dark-as-my-crime-series crime story – so am still at 15,000. Not as bad as last year when I had to do 47,000 in the final eight days (and did it). I’m off to Chipping Norton Literary Festival next weekend (with Jane Wenham-Jones) so will hopefully get some writing done then.

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I welcome items for critique directly (see Editing & Critique) or for posting on the online writing groups.

Today’s guest blog post, on the topic of writing fantasy, is brought to you by fantasy author Yvonne Hertzberger. This article first appeared on March 17th on Indies Unlimited.

Magic Realism: An Overview

Magic Realism, or Magical Realism, has become a hotly discussed term among writers of both fiction and non-fiction. Indeed, some would argue that it has no place in fiction. Others disagree. It is also discussed in other art forms but I will stick to writing in this post.

I have been participating in a few groups where these discussions take place, mostly as a fly on the wall, listening and learning, occasionally offering a beginner’s question or comment. My interest was piqued when two other writers suggested that my books could fall into that category. So with the qualifier that I still have a lot to learn I will attempt to pass on some of what I have discovered.

Firstly the term itself seems to be contradictory. How can ‘magic’ which most of us perceive as illusion, be reconciled with ‘real’. The ‘magic’ that is referred to her is not the illusionist’s tricks or sleight of hand. In this case the ‘magic’ is viewed, especially by non-fiction writers, as very ‘real’. They argue that magic exists and that it can be experienced in a very real way. Societies and cultures abound whose belief systems and daily life are infused with magic’s influences and effects on their daily lives. These can be found on every continent: many African and South American cultures, the Caribbean, and among Amerindian peoples and the indigenous people of Australia and New Zealand. Even in more remote areas of Europe vestiges of these beliefs remain.

My understanding is that these peoples believe in and relate to ‘spirits’ in many forms, many animistic in nature; that their practitioners, such as shamans, medicine men and spiritual leaders interact in a very real way with entities the rest of us cannot see or feel. These interactions are an integral part of the daily lives of all members of that society and dictate how they view the world and their place in it. They can include spells, and even physical transformations into other forms, at least to those viewing them. In these societies even those who cannot interact directly with these entities still feel their effects. I recently read and enjoyed a memoir by Ian Mathie (Sorcerers and Orange Peel), a man who has travelled extensively in Africa and has encountered, first hand, some of these systems in action. He will tell you they are very real and that he has had many ‘magical’ experiences that have affected his view of reality. After reading one of his books, and having done a good bit of reading and research on North American aboriginal cultures I find myself far less skeptical than my western empirical upbringing would lead me to be. I am left open to possibilities many would find untenable. Am I a believer? I don’t know. Let’s say that I am still looking for answers.

Which brings me to the question, “Does magic realism have a place in fiction and what would that look like? I believe it does and, from her writing, I think Lynn Cantwell would agree with me. But, when creating fiction, the line between fantasy and magic realism can become blurred. The writer is no longer disclosing what he/she sees as truth, but rather incorporating a semblance of that truth into an imagined story. The paranormal elements of the story can quickly cross the line from being so plausible as to have the reader accept them as ‘real’ for those characters and their world, to stretching credulity into the realm of fantasy. In fiction the world in which the ‘magic’ happens is made up. Yet it can be, and often is, based on solid research into actual societies and cultures. In these cases I think one can argue that the work has a legitimate claim to the label ‘magic realism’. Read the rest of this entry »